President surprises soldiers

Bush spends holiday with troops in Baghdad

Posted: Friday, November 28, 2003

By Terence HuntAssociated Press

President Bush addresses U.S. soldiers upon his arrival Thanksgiving at a military base in Baghdad, Iraq. Bush flew in secrecy overnight to Iraq to pay a surprise holiday visit to soldiers deployed overseas.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops and thank them for ''defending the American people from danger.''

The unannounced visit brought wild cheers from battle-worn soldiers, stunned the nation and even surprised some in the president's own family, who had been expecting him at the Thanksgiving table at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

Bush, the first U.S. president to visit Iraq, promised that insurgents testing America's commitment will not be rewarded with a U.S. retreat.

''We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins,'' Bush told about 600 soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne.

The troops had been told only that they were gathered for Thanksgiving dinner with a VIP guest in the mess hall at Baghdad International Airport.

L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, added his own drama to the surprise. Billed as the special guest along with coalition forces commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Bremer opened the program by telling the soldiers it was time to read the president's Thanksgiving proclamation.

He asked if there was ''anybody back there more senior than us'' to read the president's words. Bush emerged from behind a curtain as cheering soldiers climbed on chairs and tables to yell their approval.

The president shed a few tears.

''I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere,'' he joked. ''Thanks for inviting me to dinner.''

Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch, Bush then worked the entire room and dished out - but did not sit down to eat - sweet potatoes and corn from the chow line.

''Each one of you has answered a great call participating in a historic moment in world history,'' he said during brief remarks to military personnel spending the holiday in a war zone. ''We thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands solidly behind you.''

On a day when Americans count blessings, Bush told the troops, ''You are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful.''

With U.S. forces in Iraq the target of regular, deadly attacks, Bush has been heavily criticized for his policies, particularly from Democrats seeking to turn the issue into a political vulnerability for him in next year's presidential election.

More than five dozen U.S. troops were killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1. Since operations began, nearly 300 U.S. service members have died of hostile action, including 183 since May 1.

The violence persisted Thursday even as the president was en route to Baghdad.

Insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Italian mission in the city, damaging the building but causing no injuries, the U.S. military said. Also, a U.S. military convoy came under attack on the main highway west of Baghdad near the town of Abu Ghraib, witnesses said. And in the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police sergeant, said Brig. Gen. Muwaffaq Mohammed.

But Bush, his visit providing striking images of support for him among the troops, told the soldiers their sacrifices are contributing to the safety of their nation.

In turn, soldiers spoke enthusiastically about the president. ''He's got to win in '04. No one else can prosecute this war like he can,'' said Capt. John Morrison of Butler County, Pa.

During his 21/2 hours on the ground, Bush also met with four members of the Iraqi Governing Coalition, Baghdad's mayor and city council, and with top U.S. commanders.

When Bush's father visited U.S. troops at a desert outpost in Saudi Arabia on Thanksgiving Day 1990, in the runup to the first Gulf War, he became the first U.S. president to visit a front-line area since President Nixon went to Vietnam in 1969.

Dwight David Eisenhower, as president-elect, visited Korean battle fronts in December 1952 and President Lyndon Johnson made two wartime trips to Vietnam.

Aboard Air Force One for the flight home to Crawford, the president told reporters that he made his decision while thinking about how hard it must be for soldiers to spend the holiday far from home and family.

''It's got to be a lonely moment for them,'' Bush said. ''I thought it was important to send that message that we care for them (the troops) and we support them strongly, that we erase any doubts in their minds as to whether or not the people stand with them. ... Having seen the reaction of those troops, you know it was the right thing to do.''

It was evening in Baghdad when the president's plane - which had flown the whole trip with its lights darkened and window blinds closed - landed under a crescent moon, with Bush himself in the cockpit to watch Air Force One pilot Col. Mark Tilman ''bring it in.''

''Had security been broken, that would have been a time when we would have been most vulnerable,'' Bush said.

Even then, the news of Bush's trip was not released until he was in the air on the way back to the United States.